got a partner/spouse with depression?

[Gwen]

Re: got a partner/spouse with depression?

[quote author=Medusa link=topic=838.msg19351#msg19351 date=1291327203]
Alot of people who have depression also have Diabetes. Something about the chemical being in the same location dealing with emotions. Sugar spikes do affect memory.
[/quote]

Do you have more information about this? My guy developed type I in college (yeah, it can happen that late), about seven years ago (and about 4 years before the depression manifested).

[Amber]

Re: got a partner/spouse with depression?

My husband was diagnosed with depression about a year after he was diagnosed with Diabetes.

[Medusa]

Re: got a partner/spouse with depression?

Some good easy to read info(I hate when it's all doctor speak and I have no idea what's being said!)
May Clinic views

And some doctor speak

[Gwen]

Re: got a partner/spouse with depression?

[quote author=Medusa link=topic=838.msg19661#msg19661 date=1291420534]
Some good easy to read info(I hate when it's all doctor speak and I have no idea what's being said!)
May Clinic views

And some doctor speak
[/quote]

Thanks! Looks like the (proven) link is specifically with Type II (adult onset, influenced by lifestyle and genetics, sometimes insulin-dependent), vs my husband's Type I (childhood onset, influences/causes totally unknown, always insulin-dependent)--though the first link suggests that the stress of diabetes management may increase risk of depression, which certainly would apply to both types. Neither link went into the neurobiology that might connect diabetic insulin/glucose irregularities with emotion centers in the brain. I'll poke around sometime...

[Medusa]

Re: got a partner/spouse with depression?

Yeah, it's hard to find concrete evidence. But there seems to be some similarities between the metabolic hankerings of Diabetes and its affect on depression. I can't remember where I was reading but it was suggested the area of the brain that has to do with moods, gets affected by Diabetes.

[PharaohKatt]

[Gwen]

Re: got a partner/spouse with depression?

Thanks, PharaohKatt! I'm sorry to hear about your memory problems (and perhaps a link to childhood experiences... there are some things in this world that no child should go through).

I try to do the remind him I love him thing, and it usually helps--but he still gets upset when I ask him to do basic things like take out the trash, or (more importantly) medical things like make a psychiatry checkup. He'd been on one medication that didn't seem to be working and might have been making the depression worse, and he stopped without making an appointment to consult with a psychiatrist about options. A month or two later (last week) he had to see his GP for a diabetes concern, and got yelled at about the depression meds...

but literally 10 min after he got fired from his job yesterday the Kaiser mental health department called to make him an appointment. Now we have to wait til we figure out our health insurance situation, and I fear it's going to be harder all over again to actually get him to seek the medical care he needs (but doesn't believe will help).

...crap.

[Dez]

Re: got a partner/spouse with depression?

Wait, he got fired yesterday?

Oh, hun (hugs)

[Gwen]

Re: got a partner/spouse with depression?

[quote author=Deseret link=topic=838.msg30067#msg30067 date=1295664222]
Wait, he got fired yesterday?

Oh, hun (hugs)
[/quote]

Ayup, it's been a bit over a week now... The hug is much appreciated. He had been feeling relieved (the job was a real mess and company's showing signs of going down in the forseeable future), but in the last few days the relief seems to be starting to cede way to depression again. At least we've got a friend who's training him in HTML and Javascript, and might be able to get him another job... I've been aimlessly anxious a lot since he got fired. Restarted my (almost) daily meditation habit to try to counter it, but so far my success is marginal.

[Dez]

Re: got a partner/spouse with depression?

You guys are in my prayers...I've had a jobless spouse with depression before, and it's some tough stuff.

Get him out of the house, especially when he can get some sunlight, if at all possible!

[PharaohKatt]

[Dez]

Re: got a partner/spouse with depression?

Make sure you get some you time, too, hun. Helping someone with depression is very taxing and draining....if you get burned out, then neither of you will be in good shape to help the other. Don't let yourself feel guilty about getting a regular mental and emotional health break.